Amnesty International Kenya Executive Director, Irungu Houghton, has sent a strong message President William Ruto on the creation of special units to fight crime in Nairobi.
On Tuesday, November 15, President Ruto deployed officers from the General Service Unit (GSU) and the Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) to Nairobi streets after cases of crime spiked.
In an interview on Wednesday, November 16 however, Houghton cautioned the authorities to be wary of the powers bestowed to the units.
He argued that in the past, the units kicked-off on a good course but with time, they became a law unto themselves.
"It is very important that they do not allow those units to become units unto themselves.
"What we have seen from the scandals in the last three weeks essentially is that the SSU (Special Service Unit) became essentially a law unto itself and in many cases broke the law with impunity," he explained.
Regarding the Nairobi crime, Houghton challenged the state to improve the economy attributing the crime spike to the rising cost of living.
"We know that this is, primarily, arising from the cost of living and the fact that people are finding it very difficult to survive. So, in many cases, they are distressed crimes," he added.
In his directive, the Head of State approved the stationing of the officers as a reinforcement to the security agents patrolling the city.
"Cabinet sanctioned swift and decisive action to deal with all those perpetrating crimes with the deployment of additional specialized police units drawn from the GSU and RDU," a dispatch from the Cabinet meeting read in part.
Immediately after his swearing-in, the Head of State disbanded SSU arguing that it was carrying out extra-judicial killings.
Some of the officers who were linked to the outfit have since been arraigned in court.
